The ramp at General Burnside Island State Park will be ready to launch any type of boat by this afternoon.
Members of Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s staff and officials of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet gathered at the Burnside state park ramp yesterday morning to view temporary work that has been done to extend the ramp into the diminished waters of Lake Cumberland.
Most of the boat ramps along the lake were left high and dry when the water was lowered to 43 feet below the tree line for the remainder of this year to ease pressure on Wolf Creek Dam. The dam is leaking and has been classified as a “high risk” of failure.
Bruce Neely, District 8 maintenance engineer for the Department of Highways, said the Burnside state park ramp was put back in operation at the direction of Governor Fletcher because of its importance to the local houseboat industry and recreational boats used by fishermen who enjoy the lake at this time of year.
The temporary work to make the ramp operational was done quickly, Neely noted. Conley Gregory Construction Company, Monticello, was contacted Thursday afternoon and the firm worked Friday, Saturday and Monday on the project. Finishing touches were being done to the ramp extension yesterday and Neely said it would be usable by Wednesday (this) afternoon “ ... if not earlier.” He explained that the Monticello company has a “price contract” with the Department of Highways and has equipment, including a trackhoe with an extended boom “ ... that we don’t have.”
Despite the fast work, extending the ramp was a mammoth undertaking. Neely said 10,000 tons of rock were needed to create a “ ... stable rock roadbed on the same grade as the existing ramp.” He indicated additional rock may be applied to the surface of the extended ramp.
The water at the end of the ramp extension is 10 feet deep, sufficiently deep to launch any type of watercraft, including a houseboat. Neely said several houseboats are waiting to be launched.
Neely estimated that the temporary extension of the ramp was done at a cost of between $20,000 and $25,000. He said the Kentucky Department of Parks is scheduled to let a contract for a permanent concrete slab surface of the ramp extension similar to the existing ramp.
Among those attending the viewing of the extended ramp yesterday morning were Stan Cave, Governor Fletcher’s chief of staff; Marc D. Williams, commissioner, Department of Highways; George Ward, secretary of the Department of Commerce; Lewis “Tee” Phelps, chief District 8 engineer, Kentucky Department of Highways; JP Wiles, member of the governor’s staff; and members of the District 8 staff.
Local News
Related Photos
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Members of Governor Ernie Fletcher’s staff and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet officials inspect a temporary extension of the boat-launching ramp at General Burnside Island State Park. The ramp has been extended into water sufficiently deep to launch houseboats and recreational watercraft. It is scheduled to be usable this afternoon. The existing ramp was left high and dry when Lake Cumberland was lowered because of problems at Wolf Creek Dam. Bill Mardis photo
Burnside ramp up and running
Fletcher’s staff, cabinet members, are on hand to assess progress
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Big Bang Theory
Pulaski County is not at war. The booming you may hear at dusk is mock cannon fire to scare away birds.
Stuart Spillman, environmental director for the Lake Cumberland Health Department, said at least three cannons are on loan from the department to residents who want to scare away swarms of starlings and blackbirds settling in to roost.
He said a cannon is being used by a resident on Laura Lane off Ky. 39; another is in the Oak Hill Road area and a third is on Ashurst Street in the eastern part of Somerset.
Spillman said a timer on each cannon allows it to “fire” at whatever frequency is desired. The cannons must be used as the birds circle before going to roost. “After they settle in, nothing will chase them out,” Spillman said.
The Health Department doesn’t operate the cannons unless there is a specific complaint in an area where there are lots of birds, Spillman noted. He said so far this year the birds are not as bad as in the past. -
Boil water advisory is lifted countywide
The water controversy that Pulaski County has been boiling over — so to speak — for the last week is finally over.
At 10 minutes after noon Wednesday, the “boil water” advisory for the Western Pulaski Water District was lifted — almost a full week after the problems began around 1 p.m. last Thursday.
Prior to that, the Somerset Water Service — along with the other water providers in its system, including Science Hill Water, Southeastern Water, and Eubank Water — lifted their advisories, with Somerset on Saturday afternoon and the last, Southeastern, by Monday morning. Western Pulaski was the last in the system to complete sample testing for potential contaminants, due to not being able to access its Pikeville-based testing lab until Monday.
Somerset Mayor Eddie Girdler thanked the public for its patience and understanding during the duration of the boil water advisory — put in place to keep citizens from drinking water that could have been contaminated after an accident last Thursday at the water plant site — and also thanked all the city employees for their hard work during this time.
“The boil water advisory went about as well as would be expected,” said Girdler.
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